INDIA

[michael dickinson]

Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 17 (May 2009)

full version: www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

Gurgaon in Haryana is presented as the shining India, a symbol of capitalist success promising a better life for everyone behind the gateway of development. At a first glance the office towers and shopping malls reflect this chimera and even the facades of the garment factories look like three star hotels. Behind the facade, behind the factory walls and in the side streets of the industrial areas thousands of workers keep the rat-race going, producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes which end up in the traffic jam on the new highway between Delhi and Gurgaon. Thousands of young middle class people lose time, energy and academic aspirations on night-shifts in call centres, selling loan schemes to working-class people in the US or pre-paid electricity schemes to the poor in the UK. Next door, thousands of rural-migrant workers uprooted by the agrarian crisis stitch and sew for export, competing with their angry brothers and sisters in Bangladesh or Vietnam. And the rat-race will not stop; on the outskirts of Gurgaon, Asia's biggest Special Economic Zone is in the making. The following newsletter documents some of the developments in and around this miserable boom region. If you want to know more about working and struggling in Gurgaon, if you want more info about or even contribute to this project, please do so via:

www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
[e-mail]

In the May 2009 issue you can find:

1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective

*** Auto-biographic story of a 49 years old driver about his experience as a working-class Sikh in Delhi since the 1970s, his experiences as a proletarian militant in a religious organisation, the shock of the anti-Sikh riots, his disillusionments and revelations...
The story was told to FMS and published in issue 247, January 2009. In FMS longer stories about the (daily) life of workers are published under the heading "Aap-Ham kya-kya karte hain", asking "So what are you-we doing". The series emphasises the need to talk about ourselves regaining a sense of importance of our experiences and make them heard - against the big noise of the public life of stars, leaders, cooperate identities...

*** Math and Wrath of Misery - The workers' reports tell us about average daily wages for workers in modern industries of about 100 Rs. This short note puts this wage in a context of daily expenditures. Followed by a short impression of distributing the Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar in Gurgaon, Udyog Vihar.

*** Long list of short workers' reports about wage and working conditions in Gurgaon factories. The reports are gathered/spread during the monthly distribution of 'Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar' (Faridabad Workers' News). The reports were gathered/spread between November 2008 and March 2009. We can see an impact of the economic slump, particularly in the automotive manufacturing sector, where shift hours have been reduced.

Alankar Creation
Anand Nishikawa (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Bharat Export
Bharat International
Campari Export
Chintu Fashion
Condor
Dhir International (textiles for GAP)
Eastern Medikit
Evergreen International
Femme Highfashion Garments
Gaurav International (textiles for GAP)
GOM Export
Grafty Export
Gulati Export
Instyle
Krishna Label
Lara Exports
Logwell Forge (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Mass Enterprise
Mag Filter (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Mod Syrup Industries
Modelama (textiles for GAP)
Modern Lace House
MY Fashion
Omega Design
Orient Clothing
Pearl Global
Premium Moulding and Pressing
Richa and Company
Richa Global
Ridhima Export
Radnik Export
Rangi International
Rolex Auto
Sargam Export
S&R Export
Shahi Exports (Faridabad: GAP, Old Navy, Target, Spirit and Hugo Boss)
Spark
Viva Global
Winter Wear

*** Proletarian Poverty and Common Wealth Games - After a deadly work accident on the huge Common Wealth Games construction site in Delhi workers struck and destroyed company property. The accident was just the last straw - the general working-conditions are bad enough and the credit and profit squeezed construction companies (see short summary) have to pass the squeeze on to the workers. People's Union for Democratic Rights has just published a report on the conditions on the site:
http://www.pudr.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_detail...

*** Another fatal factory fire -
On 1st of May 2009 the Lakhani shoe factory in Faridabad Sector-24 caught fire, six workers were killed, 30 more were injured severely. According to workers, a blast in the boiler next to the basement of the two-storey factory caused the fire. The police claim that the factory owner has disappeared.

2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area

*** Tecumseh Workers' Report about re-structuring process and workers' resistance at Tecumseh compressor manufacturing factory, formerly belonging to the multi-national Whirlpool.

3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region or on certain company policies

*** Real Estate of Crisis in Gurgaon -
Short summary about current real estate crisis in Gurgaon. The gold rush is over, the makers of neo-liberal bubble-town Gurgaon leave behind concrete-steel skeletons, tomb-stones of their unfinished business.

*** Security Fears -
Private-Public Re-armament in Gurgaon. One of the main real estate developers DLF now ventures into the boom sector of crisis, profiting from the post-Mumbai-attack upper-middle-class paranoia: in Gurgaon DLF sets up a training camp for it's Terra Force, a security company based on low-paid labour of a migrant-peasant work-force.

4) About the Project -
Updates on Gurgaon Workers News

*** Glossary
Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to know, but could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical order.


News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

[michael dickinson]

Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 18 - June 2009
full version: www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

In the June 2009 issue you can find:

1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective

*** Lakhani Shoes Fire, the Unknown Deads and a Riot -
Some reports from local workers indicate that the official number of fifteen dead workers at Lakhani Shoes is untrue, it could be as many as 100. In Gurgaon, Udyog Vihar Phase 1, less than a week after the Lakhani disaster another factory burnt down: Bhurji Supertech, a cooler manufacturing plant full of polystyrenes - officially no one came to harm. On the same day in Gujarat workers had enough of fatal accidents...

*** Rural-Urban Migration Reversed? -
Short introduction to the National Rural Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), reference to a new publication by 'Perspectives' on the Agrarian Crisis, followed by a poem on the rural plight. Finally a story of a factory worker who became unemployed in Gurgaon and Faridabad industrial areas, who decided to apply for a job with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) 'back home' in the village, and who found out that nothing is guaranteed. Translated from Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar issue 250.

*** One and a half years and a global crisis later... -
Rather subjective snap-shots about changes in and of Gurgaon, after a longer absence from the disaster-zone of progress. How did the urban land-scape convolute further, what happened to our old neighbour, who are the new friends we meet...

*** Short workers' reports from Gurgaon industrial area -
Reports from workers collected during Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar distribution in Gurgaon, May 2009. Workers are employed by following companies:

Dhir International
Food Gallery
Laxmi Embroidery
Orchid
Polypack
Rolex
Spark
Taurus Home Furnishing
Viva Global

2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area

*** Rebel Voices from Female Worker and Friends at Boni Polymers -
Woman Worker's refusal to be victimised by the crisis in the automobile sector. After having been sacked from work in an automobile parts manufacturing factory in Faridabad industrial area she and her friends fight back and they are fighting fit...

*** Impressions from demonstration for locked-out and jailed Musashi workers -
The fate of many traditionally lead workers' struggles in the area: first locked out, then locked-up. On 11th of May 2009 around 400 people- most of them members of the official unions in Gurgaon, Manesar area - protested against the lock-out of Muasashi workers and against subsequent police repression. Musashi is a gear manufacturer for Honda HMSI. Please drop a line of rage at: www.musashi.co.in

3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region or on certain company policies

*** Babylon will fall eventually: Shaky Grounds of Gurgaon High Rise Real Estate -
The real estate sector in Gurgaon is not only shaken in its money-form, the weak foundation of its high-rising concrete-steel-glass form corresponds to the thin base of its inflated share-holder value. Construction companies and real estate developers consciously ignore the shaky grounds of their Babylonian towers: falling water levels, crispy-sandy-moving soil and increasing earthquake dangers. Short chat with two architects.

*** The upper-class is revolting -
Thin air on the top. The first half of 2009 saw various protests of the middle class: students at a management college and parents at private schools agitating about high fees and other forms of tighter selection processes. Not that we can put much hope in these 'revolting future managers', but the protest shows the enormous pressure within the new formed 'business-class', aggravated by the crisis - a pressure which inevitably will be channelled into all kinds of political reactions and reactionary dynamics. Or not? Of course we support the struggle of students to be able to wear long hair and to hold hands...

4) About the Project -
Updates on Gurgaon Workers News

*** Delhi Film Screening -
We plan to screen a series of workers' documentaries from various times and spaces. If you are interested in the screening or getting hold of the films please get in touch.

*** Glossary -
Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to know, but could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical order.


News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

[michael dickinson]

http://gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com/

In the July 2009 issue you can find:
1) Proletarian Experiences - Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective

*** Thermo Workers Power to Quit Work - Short report by a worker who was employed on a site of the Rashtrya Taap Vidyut Nigam / NTCP (National Thermo-Electricity Corporation). The biggest contractor on site is the multi-national construction company Larson and Tubro.

*** Worker who works his machine in various textile export factories - Short report from a worker who is shifted from factory to factory - together with the special sewing machines he runs. The machines are owned by a contractor who gets orders from various textile export companies.

*** Short report by older daily wage worker drudging for Food Corporation of India since 30 years- One of 30,000 daily workers employed by the public Bhartiya Khadya Nigam. For several years he has worked in a huge storage hall in Delhi industrial area.

*** Supply Chain Gang: Five short stories of workers manufacturing parts for Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hero Honda in Gurgaon - The workers are employed by Motherson Sumi, Denso, DM, Super Auto and Hightech Auto in Faridabad and Gurgaon industrial area. The parts they manufacture end up at the assembly lines of, amongst others, Maruti Suzuki, Honda HMSI and Hero Honda in Gurgaon and the German company Knorr Bremse.

2) Collective Action - Reports on proletarian struggles in the area

*** Report on struggle of temp and casual workers at world's biggest motor-bike factory Hero Honda in Dharuhera (Gurgaon/Manesar) - The story and outcome of their struggle reminds us of many similar conflicts in the area's recent past: angry casual and temp workers, a collective action, some tactical negotiations and repression from the company, the attempt to form a union, a mass lock-out and dismissals, hundreds of replaced workers hoping for a legal solution...

3) According to Plan - General information on the development of the region or on certain company policies

*** The Gurgaon Model and a Murder - Documentation of an older article on the legal adjustments which were undertaken in order to convert Gurgaon farm-land into real estate assets throughout the 1990s. It gives an idea of the collaboration between village and rural hierarchy, the local political class and (multi-national) real estate developers. The outcome of the sudden money inflow is brutalisation...

*** Water Wars - Short glimpse on the waterfront. Short summary of a newly published report on global water privatisation. Then a look at the local water crisis. A dyeing worker reports on how water-wastage in the dyeing industry in the Delhi industrial belt is covered by police and officials. A friend from Faridabad tells us how water gets to his slum-area - followed by a description of how water supply expresses social hierarchies in a Gurgaon back-yard.

4) About the Project - Updates on Gurgaon Workers News

*** Workers' Film Documentary about Proletarian Life and Struggles in Gurgaon: Help needed! - A workers' film documentary on life and struggles in Gurgaon and wider NCR area is in the making comprising many interviews with workers from different generations and sectors. Given that we either have mothers whose tongues did not make use of Hindi or English language or that we do not have regular access to computers we want to ask you for help with translating the Hindi-spoken words into English subtitles. We started with the rough work, but need help with the subtleties. If you want to give us a hand, please contact us!

*** Glossary -
Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to know, but could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical order.

News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

[michael dickinson]

GurgaonWorkersNews - Newsletter 21 (November 2009)
(full version: www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com)

Gurgaon in Haryana is presented as the shining India, a symbol of capitalist success promising a better life for everyone behind the gateway of development. At a first glance the office towers and shopping malls reflect this chimera and even the facades of the garment factories look like three star hotels. Behind the facade, behind the factory walls and in the side streets of the industrial areas thousands of workers keep the rat-race going, producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes which end up in the traffic jam on the new highway between Delhi and Gurgaon. Thousands of young middle class people lose time, energy and academic aspirations on night-shifts in call centres, selling loan schemes to working-class people in the US or pre-paid electricity schemes to the poor in the UK. Next door, thousands of rural-migrant workers uprooted by the agrarian crisis stitch and sew for export, competing with their angry brothers and sisters in Bangladesh
or Vietnam. And the rat-race will not stop; on the outskirts of Gurgaon, Asia's biggest Special Economic Zone is in the making. The following newsletter documents some of the developments in and around this miserable boom region. If you want to know more about working and struggling in Gurgaon, if you want more info about or even contribute to this project, please do so via:

www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
[e-mail]

In the November 2009 issue you can find:


1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective

*** 19 Short Workers' Reports from Gurgaon Factories -

Workers' told these reports to Faridabad Majdoor Samachar (Faridabad Workers' News) in July and August 2009. The reports were distributed in the monthly free newspaper in the Delhi industrial belt. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, two are from automobile workers.

*** Summary of Study on Garment Workers' Conditions in Gurgaon -

Given the huge masses of workers and their palpable anger it seems only logical that NGOs and other institutions are interested in what's happening. We summarise a recent study by "Society for Labour and Development".

*** White Collar Blues -

Short reports of workers employed by the post, in public transport, in the education sector and by the HDFC Bank in Gurgaon. We can see the massive casualisation of public and white collar jobs - and the proletarian post-graduate discontent.


2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area

*** The Youth is Getting Restless / Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile Factories, Part 2 -

In the last newsletter we have reported about physical conflicts and skilled workers' wildcat strikes at textile factories of Wearwell (Marks and Spencers) and Unistyle. The unrest continued during August and September 2009, but it started to run dry in the channels of labour law and union representation...

*** Automobile Unrest and Jam in Gurgaon, Five Points related to the Rico Strike in October 2009 -

* Rust belts, rural anger, new workers' movement around the car? -

Within and against the car industry run the main front-lines of class struggle in India: Post-colonial permanent workers at Hind Motors in old industrial centre Kolkata are down-sized and Hind Motors factory land is taken for real estate speculation; while Tata and CPI(M) fight against rural proletarians and farmers to grab green-field land for a 'peoples' car' plant in nearby Singur; and while rural-migrant temp workers at the world's largest car parts manufacturer Delphi in the new industrial hub Gurgaon are striking wild against the pact of companies' and permanent workers' union. In the classical left conception and form of organisation these different proletarian figures were either played off against each other or the left tried to disempower them as productive collectives and 'united' them as mere members in their mass organisations. We hope that within these movements, in the situation of global crisis and through the mobile character of both
industry and work-force a new form of revolutionary organising will develop.

* Rico and beyond: One month of automobile unrest in Gurgaon -

Since end of September 2009 a strike / lock-out at automobile supplier Rico created or rather expressed some general trouble in the industrial cluster. Honda threatened to re-locate production to other parts of India, the struggle broadened and was taken up by the union/political sphere on the back of a killed worker. On the other side of the globe in Canada Ford had to close down production due to lacking Rico parts - and, maybe influenced by wage dispute in India, Ford workers in the north voted against a management-union deal to cut wages for 'saving jobs'. A chronology of news articles and more questions than answers.

* What crisis? -

In what phase of the Indian automobile industry did the Gurgaon strike take place? Short glimpse at the development of the automobile industry in India since the slump in October 2008. Obviously the economic stimulus packages for European car buyers have had their impact in India - in the first half of 2009 the passenger car export went up by 36 per cent compared to the previous year. This shows the global character of the automobile industry. Another level of globalisation intertwines production directly - hoping that the 'low wages' of the south can be imported with the manufactured parts into the assembly plants of the north.

* The terrific jam -

The crisis of the automobile industry - and therefore of capitalism as we know it - is not only the crisis of profits or the physical and mental crisis of those who have to produce them, but also the crisis of the car as a terribly destructive means of transport. We summarise two recent articles on traffic jams and road accidents in Gurgaon.

* Video-Interviews with Gurgaon Automobile Workers -

As part of a workers' documentary about life and struggle in Delhi's industrial belt friends interviewed various automobile workers in the area: workers in Faridabad slum-workshops producing door hinges for Maruti Suzuki, Tata Nano and others; a young skilled CNC operator in a car parts manufacturing company; three suspended temporary workers at Hero Honda plant; and a former Maruti Suzuki worker sacked during the lock-out in 2000:
http://visions-of-labor.org/topic.php?clipId=17&Viam=Feature&Vlang=eng


3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region or on certain company policies

*** From Cluster to Class War -

Summary of study "Gurgaon and Faridabad - An Exercise in Contrasts" by Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari. Gurgaon and Faridabad are two neighbouring towns in Delhi's industrial belt. Their industrialisation was interdependent. A proper analysis of 'clusters' would have to look at the main contradiction of capital - capital thrives on the productivity of workers' mass concentration and at the same time it is threatened by workers' collective anger becoming more forceful and creative through proletarian proximity. The studies' summary might serve as another little piece in the jigsaw of understanding the process from cluster to class war.

*** Local War on terror and the Terror of the Labour Market -

Two recent news items reflecting the fear of the ruling class towards the 'unruly poor'. In the first news article the 'unruly poor' appear in the unspecific figure of terrorism with a hint at undocumented labour migrants. The article refers to a report published by yet another NGO about lacking police force and fire tenders - Gurgaon is not prepared for counter-insurgency. In the second article we can see how the ruling class tries to channel the 'terror' of the labour market into inter-working-class tension by demanding job reservation for a specific group, in this case setting the local proletarians against the migrant ones.


4) About the Project -
Updates on Gurgaon Workers News

*** Glossary -

Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to know, but could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical order.



News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com

[michael dickinson]

Coalition against Bayer Dangers (Germany)
Nov 10, 2009

“Bhopal is a story of corporate greed and profit”
Interview with Rachna Dhingra, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB)

Rachna Dhingra, 32, originally from Delhi, was just six years old when the world's worst industrial disaster struck Bhopal in 1984. She studied in the US and joined a student group that took up the issue of the Bhopal gas disaster. Rachna graduated with a business degree in 2000 and went to live in Bhopal in January 2003. She is now an important force in the international campaign and locally with the Bhopal Group of Information and Action. Before returning to India she was associated with Dow Chemical, the parent company of Union Carbide Corporation. We met her at Leverkusen/Germany, home of Bayer Corporations´s global headquarters.

Rachna, what´s your personal motivation to engage in the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal?

I love what I am doing. For me it is not a sacrifice but something that helps me sleep better at night without any regret. What angers me most is that even 25 years after the disaster, the government can allow people to drink contaminated water. Every person is moved by something in his or her life. For me it was the fact that the company I was working for was more concerned about profits than lives of the people. I came to Bhopal to work with the survivors who have been fighting for better health care, clean drinking water and prosecution of individuals and corporations responsible for the disaster. A quarter of a century is a long time to wait for justice but I am hopeful that eventually everyone will get justice.

Why have you decided to get on this bus tour on the 25 anniversary of the Bhopal blast?

To tell people that this is not a disaster that happened 25 years ago, but it continues to happen today. To raise awarenes among people in Europe that the story of Bhopal is not just about Bhopal, but it is a story of corporate greed and profit who put profit before human lives & environment. The bus tour is a easy way to travel across several countries, stop in small places and make connections with other communities who are fighting similar battles. This bus tour is also to raise awareness and funding for Sambhavna clinic, which provides free and best medical care to people poisoned by Union Carbide. For more information or to donate, pls visit www.bhopal.org.

Last year you also passed by the Bayer plant at Institute/USA, the "sister plant" of Bhopal, where in 2008 a huge explosion took place. How were the reactions to your appearance at Institute?

This was one of the few places in our US tour where we connected to another affected community. It was very emotional and shocking to see that no lessons had been learnt from the Bhopal disaster. All of us were extremely saddened to see the proximity of the factory to the residential communities. As soon as one enters the town, the smell of toxic chemicals engulfs you and it stays with you until you leave the town. After talking to lot of people of community, I was shocked to see the similarities of diseases that women and young children were suffering from the slow poisoning caused by the Bayer Plant. As in Bhopal people are sick in Institute. No significant study on the water pollution, morbidity, cancer rates etc has been carried out by the scientific agencies. Just like in Bhopal it was poor and people of color who are suffering the most at Institute

Why did you visit Leverkusen, home of Bayer´s global headquarters?

One of our main reasons to come to Leverkusen was to tell the people living in Leverkusen and Bayer's factory workers the kind of crimes Bayer is committing in other countries. We want people in Leverkusen to know that NO MORE BHOPALS should ever be anywhere and no one should suffer like people in Bhopal and Institute are suffering.


What are the worst problems today in Bhopal and what are the most important demands?

In this 25th year of unending human suffering over 25.000 people have died. Each one of the half million exposed and their children have lost a relative, a friend or a neighbour. One fifth of the over half million people exposed remain chronically ill from a range of physical and mental diseases from toxic exposure. Tens of thousands of children born after the disaster have growth and development disorders, hundreds of children are born with birth defects stemming from their parents exposure to Carbide's poisons through gas or through ground water contaminated by chemical wastes from the factory.

In this 25th year of corporate crime: the worst corporate massacre in world history, the individual officials and the corporations charged with manslaughter, grievous assault and other criminal charges remain absconding from Indian courts, unpunished. Meanwhile the principal accused continues to do business in India through The Dow Chemical Company that currently owns it. The request for extradition of Warren Anderson, former Chairman and principal accused in the criminal case lies denied by the US State and Justice Departments.

In this 25th year of governments in bed with corporations: more than 17 years have passed and the prosecution remains to seek the extradition of representatives of Union Carbide now an US based company absconding from Indian Courts. The government has failed to file charges of bribery, a punishable offence, against Dow Chemical that has admitted to paying thousands of dollars in bribe to Indian government officials for registration of pesticides. The government has played an active role in helping Union Carbide sell its technology and services in India while absconding from Indian courts.

In this 25th year of anti people governments: despite the changes in the political parties that have come to power state and central governments have remained unchangingly apathetic towards the social and economic problems of tens of thousands of survivors who lost their capacity to earn a livelihood. The un-stated Government policy of treating Bhopali lives as expendable is apparent from the consistent and deliberate neglect of the rehabilitation of the survivors and their children. The Empowered Commission for long term rehabilitation of the survivors remains to be set up despite nine month old public promises.

A global environmental crime ongoing for over 25 years: ground water and soil in an area over 20 square kilometres lies contaminated with cancer and birth defect causing chemicals and chemicals that damage the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain. Some of these chemicals have been found in the breast milk of mothers in the communities next to the factory and the dump where over 10, 000 tonnes of hazardous waste lies buried. The area includes the 87 acre factory premises where Union Carbide admits to dumping hazardous wastes in over 20 spots. Union Carbide ignores notices from the Indian courts and Dow Chemical says it can not accept liabilities of accompany that it owns 100%.

In this 25th year of slow and silent Bhopals: corporations big and small worldwide emboldened by the absence of justice in Bhopal continue with toxic trespass into peoples habitats and their bodies and those of the unborn. Globalization gas given a boost to the spread of the toxic empire as the logic of profit over peoples lives and those of the unborn finds newer areas to capture. Across national boundaries regulatory authorities

What has to be done to prevent further catastrophes like the one in Bhopal?
Corporations and individuals who commit such crimes have to be punished appropriately. They have to be treated like criminals so that death by their poisons is recognized as homicide, assault of their poisons on women's body should constitute as rape, causing birth defect in children due to exposure of such chemicals should constitute as criminal offences. Unless we can reverse the precedent that corporations cannot come into a place then kill, pollute, injure and leave without any criminal liability then we have very little chances of preventing Bhopal like catastrophes. The Precautionary Principle should also be followed and looked into. We need to question why production of such toxic and hazardous chemicals is needed where there are inherent dangers to human life and the environment.

more information:
· Bhopal Bustour: http://www.bhopalbus.com
· Materials on Bayer´s Institute Plant: www.cbgnetwork.de/2627.html

Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany)
www.CBGnetwork.org
[e-mail]
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